System and method for in-game advertising to assist in recruiting of affiliation members

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing in-game advertising to assist in recruiting of affiliation members in an online game. The system and method include receiving affiliation advertising bids from affiliations for advertising opportunities. A bid indicating an aggregate amount of consideration is pledged by multiple users in an affiliation on behalf of the affiliation in a competitive auction with other affiliations for an advertising opportunity and determining winning affiliation advertising bids in competitive auctions for advertising opportunities. The system and method further include effectuating presentation of affiliation advertising content in advertising opportunities for affiliations that submit winning affiliation advertising bids such that in response to the first affiliation advertising bid being determined to be the winning affiliation advertising bid in the competitive auction for the first advertising opportunity, affiliation advertising content associated with the first affiliation is presented in the first advertising opportunity.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates to a system and method for in-game advertisingto assist in recruiting of affiliation members.

BACKGROUND

Players of on-line games trying to recruit members via online chat isknown; however, conventional systems do not provide in-game advertisingto assist in recruiting of affiliation members.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the disclosure relates to a system and method configuredto provide in-game advertising to assist in recruiting of affiliationmembers in an online game. In some implementations, the system andmethod include executing an instance of an online game, and implementingthe instance of the online game to facilitate participation of the userin the online game via a client computing platform. In someimplementations, the system and method include recording memberships ofusers in affiliations, wherein affiliations are relationships betweengroups of users that have functional implications in the online game,the affiliations including a first affiliation to which a set of theusers belong. In some implementations, the system and method includereceive affiliation advertising bids from the affiliations foradvertising opportunities, the affiliation advertising bids including afirst affiliation advertising bid from the users in the firstaffiliation for a first advertising opportunity, the first affiliationadvertising bid indicating an aggregate amount of consideration pledgedby multiple users in the first affiliation on behalf of the firstaffiliation in a competitive auction with other affiliations for thefirst advertising opportunity. In some implementations, the system andmethod include determining winning affiliation advertising bids incompetitive auctions for advertising opportunities. In someimplementations, the system and method include effectuating presentationof affiliation advertising content in advertising opportunities foraffiliations that submit winning affiliation advertising bids such thatin response to the first affiliation advertising bid being determined tobe the winning affiliation advertising bid in the competitive auctionfor the first advertising opportunity, affiliation advertising contentassociated with the first affiliation is presented in the firstadvertising opportunity.

In exemplary implementations, providing in-game advertising to assist inrecruiting of affiliation members in an online game in an online gamemay be performed by processors executing computer program components. Insome implementations, the system may include one or more servers. Theserver(s) may be configured to communicate with one or more clientcomputing platforms according to a client/server architecture. The usersmay access the system via the client computing platforms, for instance,to engage in one or more games.

The server(s) may be configured to execute one or more computer programcomponents to provide one or more games to users (or players). Thecomputer program components may include one or more of a game component,a user profile management component, a space component, an affiliationmanagement component, an affiliation advertising bid receptioncomponent, an auction component, an affiliation advertising component,and/or other components. It is noted that the client computing platformsmay include one or more computer program components that are the same asor similar to the computer program components of the server(s) tofacilitate individualized content made available to the users of onlinegames.

The game component may be configured to execute an instance of an onlinegame, and to implement the instance of the online game to facilitateparticipation of the user in the online game via client computingplatforms.

The affiliation management component may be configured to recordmemberships of users in affiliations, wherein affiliations arerelationships between groups of users that have functional implicationsin the online game, the affiliations including a first affiliation towhich a set of the users belong.

The affiliation advertising bid reception component may be configured toreceive affiliation advertising bids from the affiliations foradvertising opportunities, the affiliation advertising bids including afirst affiliation advertising bid from the users in the firstaffiliation for a first advertising opportunity, the first affiliationadvertising bid indicating an aggregate amount of consideration pledgedby multiple users in the first affiliation on behalf of the firstaffiliation in a competitive auction with other affiliations for thefirst advertising opportunity.

The auction component may be configured to determine winning affiliationadvertising bids in competitive auctions for advertising opportunities.

The affiliation advertising component may be configured to effectuatepresentation of affiliation advertising content in advertisingopportunities for affiliations that submit winning affiliationadvertising bids such that in response to the first affiliationadvertising bid being determined to be the winning affiliationadvertising bid in the competitive auction for the first advertisingopportunity, affiliation advertising content associated with the firstaffiliation is presented in the first advertising opportunity.

One aspect of the disclosure relates to a computer-implemented methodfor providing in-game advertising to assist in recruiting of affiliationmembers in an online game. The method may be implemented in a computersystem that includes one or more physical processors and storage mediastoring machine-readable instructions. The method includes managing userprofiles of one or more users of the online game, and executing aninstance of an online game. The method further includes executing aninstance of an online game. The method further includes implementing theinstance of the online game to facilitate participation of the user inthe online game. The method further includes recording memberships ofusers in affiliations, wherein affiliations are relationships betweengroups of users that have functional implications in the online game,the affiliations including a first affiliation to which a set of theusers belong. The method further includes detecting successfulperformance of speed-up quests by the user in the online game. Themethod further includes receiving affiliation advertising bids from theaffiliations for advertising opportunities, the affiliation advertisingbids including a first affiliation advertising bid from the users in thefirst affiliation for a first advertising opportunity, the firstaffiliation advertising bid indicating an aggregate amount ofconsideration pledged by multiple users in the first affiliation onbehalf of the first affiliation in a competitive auction with otheraffiliations for the first advertising opportunity. The method furtherincludes determining winning affiliation advertising bids in competitiveauctions for advertising opportunities. The method further includeseffectuating presentation of affiliation advertising content inadvertising opportunities for affiliations that submit winningaffiliation advertising bids such that in response to the firstaffiliation advertising bid being determined to be the winningaffiliation advertising bid in the competitive auction for the firstadvertising opportunity, affiliation advertising content associated withthe first affiliation is presented in the first advertising opportunity.

These and other features, and characteristics of the present technology,as well as the methods of operation and functions of the relatedelements of structure and the combination of parts and economies ofmanufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of thefollowing description and the appended claims with reference to theaccompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification,wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in thevarious figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that thedrawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only andare not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. As usedin the specification and in the claims, the singular form of “a”, “an”,and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictatesotherwise.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system configured to provide a virtual space for anonline game, in accordance with one or more implementations.

FIG. 2 illustrates an implementation of a virtual space interfacewherein a user is presented with a notification to join an affiliation.

FIG. 3 illustrates an implementation of a virtual space interfacewherein a user is presented with a listing of affiliations interested inrecruiting new members.

FIG. 4 illustrates an implementation of a virtual space interfacewherein a user is presented with an affiliation advertising opportunitynotification.

FIG. 5 illustrates an implementation of a virtual space interfacewherein a user is presented with an affiliation bid interface configuredto receive individual user pledge affiliation advertisingconsiderations;

FIG. 6 illustrates an implementation of a virtual space interfacewherein a user is presented with an affiliation bid interface configuredto present an aggregate amount of consideration from the multipleindividual user pledge affiliation advertising considerationssubmissions for an affiliation advertising opportunity; and

FIG. 7 illustrates an implementation of a method of providing in-gameadvertising to assist in recruiting of alliance members in an onlinegame.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 configured to provide a virtual space tousers. Providing the virtual space may include hosting the virtual spaceover a network. In some implementations, system 100 may include one ormore servers 102. Server 102 may be configured to communicate with oneor more client computing platforms 104 according to a client/serverarchitecture. Users may access system 100 and/or the virtual space viaclient computing platforms 104.

The server 102 may be configured to execute one or more computer programcomponents. The computer program components may include one or more of auser profile management component 106, a game component 108, a spacecomponent 110, an affiliation management component 112, an affiliationadvertising bid reception component 114, an auction component 116, anaffiliation advertising component 118, and/or other components. Theclient computing platform(s) 104 may include one or more computerprogram components that are the same as or similar to the computerprogram components of the example server(s) 102 to provide a virtualspace to users and to facilitate in-game actions.

The user profile management component 106 may be configured to manageuser profiles. Different users may have profiles associated withdifferent game levels, entities, etc. Game entities include gamecharacters, objects, simulated physical phenomena (e.g., wind, rain,earthquakes, and/or other phenomena), and/or other elements within thevirtual space to interact with the virtual space and/or each other. Gameelements include bases, forts, tanks, transport devices, cities, armies,soldiers, a wizard, an elf, or anything listed herein or externally thatmay be part of an online game. It is impractical to list all gameobjects, so any existing game object at time of filing or later isinferred as being a game entity.

A user profile management component 106 may be configured to record userprofiles and/or user parameters associated with users of the system 100.The one or more user profiles and/or user information may includeinformation stored by server 102, one or more of the client computingplatforms 104, and/or other storage location. The user profiles mayinclude, for example, past responses to speed-up quest offer(s),auxiliary content, information identifying users (e.g., a username orhandle, a number, an identifier, and/or other identifying information)within the virtual space, virtual space account information,subscription information, virtual currency account information (e.g.,related to currency held in credit for a user), virtual space usageinformation, interaction history among users in the virtual space,information stated by users, browsing history of users, a clientcomputing platform identification associated with a user, a phone numberassociated with a user, and/or other information related to users.

The user profile management component 106 may also be configured toobtain values of user parameters for individual users. The userparameters may include one or more of a demographic parameter, a socialparameter, a game parameter, a purchase parameter, an auxiliary contentresponse parameter, a speed-up quest offer content response parameter,and/or other parameters. A demographic parameter may include one or moreof age, sex, geographic location, language, income, education, career,marital status, and/or other demographic parameters. A social parametermay include one or more of a parameter derived from a social graph in asocial network service, an in-game relationship, a platform from whichthe virtual space is accessed, and/or other social parameters. A gameparameter may include one or more of an entity class, an entity faction,a usage amount, one or more usage times, a level, inventory in thevirtual space, a score, and/or other game parameters. A purchaseparameter may include a parameter determined from a purchase history ofthe user in the virtual space. An affiliation advertising responseparameter may include a one or more of a user's response to pastaffiliation advertising notifications, past affiliation advertisingcontent, and/or other parameters. An affiliation advertising offer(s)content response parameter may include a one or more of a user'sresponse to past affiliation advertising(s) content, current or pastconsideration offers, and/or other parameters.

In an implementation, the game component 108 may be configured toexecute an instance of an online game, and to implement the instance ofthe online game to facilitate participation of users in the online gamevia a client computing platform 104. Participation in the online gameincludes executing actions in the instance of the online game inresponse to receiving action requests from a user. Execution of someactions may be delayed from reception of a corresponding action requestby a wait time, which is associated with the action.

Space component 110 may be configured to implement an instance of thevirtual space executed by the computer components. The instance of thevirtual space may reflect the state of the virtual space. The instanceof the virtual space may be used to push state information to clients(e.g., client computing platforms 104) for implementation on the client,may be used to verify state information generated on client executingexpressions of the instance locally, and/or for other purposes. Stateinformation may include information about the state of the virtual spacesuch as, without limitation, position information of one or moreobjects, topography information, object status/shape information, battleinformation, score information, user or character progress information,user inventory information, user or character resource information,progress information for one or more activities or actions, viewinformation describing a view of the virtual space, and/or otherinformation that describes the state of the virtual space. Expressionsof the instance executed on the client facilitate presentation of viewson the client of the virtual space. Expressions of the instance executedon the client may be configured to simply present views of the virtualspace based on the state information (e.g., via streaming viewinformation, object/position information, and/or other stateinformation) received from space component 110. Expressions of theinstance executed on the client may include space logic that effectivelyprovides for execution of a limited version of the instance on a clientthat is synchronized and/or verified with state information receivedfrom space component 110. The view presented on a given client maycorrespond to a location in the virtual space (e.g., the location fromwhich the view is taken, the location the view depicts, and/or otherlocations), a zoom ratio, a dimensionality of objects, a point-of-view,and/or view parameters. One or more of the view parameters may beselectable by the user.

The instance of the virtual space may comprise a simulated space that isaccessible by users via clients that present the views of the virtualspace to a user. The simulated space may have a topography, expressongoing real-time interaction by one or more users, and/or include oneor more objects positioned within the topography that are capable oflocomotion within the topography. In some instances, the topography maybe a 2-dimensional topography. In other instances, the topography may bea 3-dimensional topography. The topography may include dimensions of thespace, and/or surface features of a surface or objects that are “native”to the space. In some instances, the topography may describe a surface(e.g., a ground surface) that runs through at least a substantialportion of the space. In some instances, the topography may describe avolume with one or more bodies positioned therein (e.g., a simulation ofgravity-deprived space with one or more celestial bodies positionedtherein). The instance executed by the computer components may besynchronous, asynchronous, and/or semi-synchronous.

The instance of the virtual space may comprise one or more userselectable actions. A user may select an action as part of online gameplay or as part of a quest or other activity within the online game.Example actions include fighting, developing a skill, building,crafting, modifying, upgrading, trading, selling, and/or repairing anitem, an equipment, a building, and/or a structure; training, building,modifying, healing, requesting, upgrading, selling, and/or repairing anin-game unit; harvesting, refining, trading, selling, developing,spending, and/or consuming an in-game resource; using, performing,developing, modifying, upgrading, and/or training a skill, ability,and/or attribute; completing in-game travel, reloading a weapon,receiving assistance such as a hint and/or a clue, researching atechnology a user wants to develop or to unlock in a game or dedicatingresources and/or researchers to researching that technology, which mayin turn lead to more technology development, and/or other actions.

Within the instance of the virtual space executed by space component110, users may control characters, objects, simulated physical phenomena(e.g., wind, rain, earthquakes, and/or other phenomena), and/or otherelements within the virtual space to interact with the virtual spaceand/or each other. The user characters may include avatars. As usedherein, the term “user character” may refer to an object (or group ofobjects) present in the virtual space that represents an individualuser. The user with which it is associated may control the usercharacter. The user controlled element(s) may move through and interactwith the virtual space (e.g., non-user characters in the virtual space,other objects in the virtual space). The user controlled elementscontrolled by and/or associated with a given user may be created and/orcustomized by the given user. The user may have an “inventory” ofvirtual goods and/or currency that the user can use (e.g., bymanipulation of a user character or other user controlled element,and/or other items) within the virtual space.

The above description of the views of the virtual space determined fromthe instance executed by space component 110 is not intended to belimiting. The virtual space may be presented in a more limited, orricher, manner. For example, views of the virtual space may be selectedfrom a limited set of graphics depicting an event in a given placewithin the virtual space. The views may include additional content(e.g., text, contextual pop-up windows, audio, pre-stored video content,and/or other content) that describes particulars of the current state ofthe place, beyond the limited set of graphics. For example, a view mayinclude a generic battle graphic with a textual description of theopponents to be confronted. Other representations of individual placeswithin the virtual space are contemplated.

The users may participate in the instance of the virtual space bycontrolling one or more of the available user controlled elements in thevirtual space. Control may be exercised through control inputs and/orcommands input by the users through client computing platforms 104. Theusers may interact with each other through communications exchangedwithin the virtual space. Such communications may include one or more ofcommunications over an affiliation portal, textual chat, instantmessages, email messages, private messages, voice communications, and/orother communications. Communications may be received and entered by theusers via their respective client computing platforms 104.Communications may be routed to and from the appropriate users throughserver 102 (e.g., through space component 110).

The instance of the virtual space and/or the online game that takesplace therein may be persistent. That is, the virtual space and/or thegame may continue on whether or not individual players are currentlylogged in and/or participating in the game. A player that logs out ofthe virtual space and then logs back in some time later may find thevirtual space has been changed through the interactions of other playerswith the virtual space during the time the player was logged out. Thesechanges may include changes to the simulated physical space, changes inthe player's inventory, changes in other player's inventories, changesexperienced by non-player characters, changes to the virtual itemsavailable for use in the online game, and/or other changes.

Users may communicate with other users to form, promote, or participatein affiliations, such as alliances, levels, clans, teams, groups, or anyother grouping or association amongst users. For example, an affiliationmanagement component 112 may record memberships of users inaffiliations. Affiliations may be relationships between groups of usersthat have functional implications in the online game. The affiliationsmay include a first affiliation to which a set of the users belongs. Anaffiliation management component 112 may provide a user with anaffiliation interface whereby the user may form a new affiliation orsearch for an affiliation to join. An affiliation management component112 may provide a user with tools to form a new affiliation by forexample receiving input from the user that is associated with the newaffiliation. Example affiliation input or content for an affiliationadvertisement opportunity may be stored as one or more affiliationparameters, which may include any one or more of: an affiliation name,description, banner, mission statement, and criteria for members andother information. An affiliation management component 112 may storeaffiliation parameters.

An affiliation advertising bid reception component 114 may be configuredto receive affiliation advertising bids from the affiliations foradvertising opportunities. The affiliation advertising bids may includea first affiliation advertising bid from the users in the firstaffiliation for a first advertising opportunity. The first affiliationadvertising bid may indicate an aggregate amount of considerationpledged by multiple users in the first affiliation on behalf of thefirst affiliation in a competitive auction with other affiliations forthe first advertising opportunity.

An auction component 116 may be configured to determine winningaffiliation advertising bids in competitive auctions for advertisingopportunities.

An affiliation advertising component 118 may be configured to effectuatepresentation of affiliation advertising content in advertisingopportunities for affiliations that submit winning affiliationadvertising bids. For example, in response to a first affiliationadvertising bid being determined to be the winning affiliationadvertising bid in the competitive auction for the first advertisingopportunity, the affiliation advertising content associated with thefirst affiliation may be presented in a first advertising opportunity.For example, an advertising opportunity may include a banner,message-of-the-day, log in modal or the home page of the alliancefeature. Members of an affiliation may be dedicated in promoting theiraffiliation by for example becoming the strongest affiliation in therealm for either tournament (reward) purposes or simply bragging rightson a leader board. Virtual space in the online game may be used foradvertising an alliance by notifying affiliation members of anadvertising opportunity. An advertising opportunity may enable anaffiliation to present its advertising content in virtual space, such asin-game real estate space, such as on a part of the log-in modal mayshow a “featured alliance” and their advertising/promotion content. Anaffiliation advertising opportunity may include having the affiliationadvertising content distributed across communication channels such asglobal chat, spamming, emails, or notification that may appear in avirtual space of an online game for other users of the online game toview the affiliation advertising content.

In some implementations, the server 102 and client computing platforms104 may be operatively linked via one or more electronic communicationlinks. For example, such electronic communication links may beestablished, at least in part, via a network such as the Internet and/orother networks. It will be appreciated that this is not intended to belimiting, and that the scope of this disclosure includes implementationsin which servers 102 and client computing platforms 104 may beoperatively linked via some other communication media.

A given client computing platform 104 may include one or more processorsconfigured to execute computer program components. The computer programcomponents may be configured to enable an expert or user associated withthe given client computing platform 104 to interface with server 102,and/or provide other functionality attributed herein to client computingplatforms 104. By way of non-limiting example, the given clientcomputing platform 104 may include one or more of a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a handheld computer, a tablet computing platform, aNetBook, a Smartphone, a gaming console, and/or other computingplatforms.

Server 102 may include electronic storage 160, one or more processors180, and/or other components. Server 102 may include communicationlines, or ports to enable the exchange of information with a networkand/or other computing platforms. Illustration of server 102 in FIG. 1is not intended to be limiting. Server 102 may include a plurality ofhardware, software, and/or firmware components operating together toprovide the functionality attributed herein to server 102. For example,server 102 may be implemented by a cloud of computing platformsoperating together as server 102.

Electronic storage 160 may comprise non-transitory storage media thatelectronically stores information. The electronic storage media ofelectronic storage 160 may include one or both of system storage that isprovided integrally (i.e., substantially non-removable) with server 102and/or removable storage that is removably connectable to server 102via, for example, a port (e.g., a USB port, a firewire port, etc.) or adrive (e.g., a disk drive, etc.). Electronic storage 160 may include oneor more of optically readable storage media (e.g., optical disks, etc.),magnetically readable storage media (e.g., magnetic tape, magnetic harddrive, floppy drive, etc.), electrical charge-based storage media (e.g.,EEPROM, RAM, etc.), solid-state storage media (e.g., flash drive, etc.),and/or other electronically readable storage media. Electronic storage160 may include one or more virtual storage resources (e.g., cloudstorage, a virtual private network, and/or other virtual storageresources). Electronic storage 160 may store software algorithms,information determined by processor 180, information received fromserver 12, information received from client computing platforms 104,and/or other information that enables server 102 to function asdescribed herein.

Processor(s) 120 is configured to provide information processingcapabilities in server 102. As such, processor 180 may include one ormore of a digital processor, an analog processor, a digital circuitdesigned to process information, an analog circuit designed to processinformation, a state machine, and/or other mechanisms for electronicallyprocessing information. Although processor 180 is shown in FIG. 1 as asingle entity, this is for illustrative purposes only. In someimplementations, processor 180 may include a plurality of processingunits. These processing units may be physically located within the samedevice, or processor 180 may represent processing functionality of aplurality of devices operating in coordination. The processor 180 may beconfigured to execute components 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, and 118.Processor 180 may be configured to execute components 106, 108, 110,112, 114, 116, and 118 by software; hardware; firmware; some combinationof software, hardware, and/or firmware; and/or other mechanisms forconfiguring processing capabilities on processor 180. As used herein,the term “component” may refer to any component or set of componentsthat perform the functionality attributed to the component. This mayinclude one or more physical processors during execution of processorreadable instructions, the processor readable instructions, circuitry,hardware, storage media, or any other components.

It should be appreciated that although components 106, 108, 110, 112,114, 116, and 118 are illustrated in FIG. 1 as being implemented withina system 140 implemented by a single processing unit, in implementationsin which processor 180 includes multiple processing units, one or moreof components 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, and 118 may be implementedremotely from the other components. The description of the functionalityprovided by the different components 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, and118 described below is for illustrative purposes, and is not intended tobe limiting, as any of components 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, and 118may provide more or less functionality than is described. For example,one or more of components 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, and 118 may beeliminated, and some or all of its functionality may be provided byother ones of components 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, and 118. Asanother example, processor 180 may be configured to execute one or moreadditional components that may perform some or all of the functionalityattributed below to one of components 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, and118.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a virtual space interface 200, whichmay be used to facilitate in game actions via computing platform 104.For example, the user controls a gaming entity 220. The space component110 may present the user with a number of possible in game actions,e.g., 230, 232, 234 at any instance of the game. Virtual space interface200 may be configured to display a virtual space 210 including gameentities as described herein. A user may have acquired one or moreresources 252, 254, 256 while playing the game. For example, a user mayselect a first action 230 that is associated with an attempt atachieving a particular level of play. A second action 232 may beassociated with acquiring more resources, and a third action 234 may beassociated with attacking another player. Any number or actions may bedesigned for according to the limits of an example component system 140or a more distributed system 100, or a larger system 100 that may befurther distributed across one or more client computing platform(s) 104.Other layouts of virtual space interface 200 are contemplated. Theexample embodiment illustrates in game actions that may be selected viathe virtual space interface 200. Other forms of game action selectionare contemplated with the disclosure described herein, such as otherlocal or remote input for in game action selection. Some in game actionsor achievements may be easier to acquire when the user is part of anaffiliation. For example, a user may chose to start his own newaffiliation or may choose to join an existing affiliation. A gamecomponent 108 may monitor user action during an instance of an onlinegame to determine when the user might have benefited or moved further inthe game if the user was part of an affiliation.

Starting new affiliations may be difficult as top members may be inother affiliations. Recruitment becomes important when an online gamehas affiliation features, such as affiliation competitions. Users ofconventional online games have difficulty recruiting new users to theirexisting affiliations. In some instances users are unaware of thebenefits of being part of an affiliation, or are unaware of the pathtoward becoming a member of an existing affiliation or a path towardforming a new affiliation. In an implementation a game component 108 maypromote recruiting by affiliations and entice users into joiningaffiliations.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of how a game component 108 may assist inrecruiting of affiliation members. For example, when a user fails toachieve a certain online game accomplishment, such as reaching a level,acquiring a weapon, building a fort, etc. A game component 108 mayassist in recruiting of alliance members. For example, a game component108 may determine when a game action did not result in advancement inthe game, and may effectuate a presentation of an in-game affiliationnotification 260, such as a contextual pop-up window illustrated in FIG.2. The notification 260 may include affiliation notification content 262that provides the user with information of how to initiate into a pathtoward becoming a member of an existing affiliation or a path towardforming a new affiliation. The game component 108 may provide the userwith an affiliation path access by for example presenting the user withan affiliation access selection 272, such as a “yes” button. Affiliationaccess selection 272 may be presented in the affiliation notification260 or may be presented at any time in virtual space 210. For example,affiliation access selection 272 may be available during an instance ofthe online game at a time or any space of virtual space 210 of theonline game. The affiliation notification 260 may include an exitselection 274, such as a “No” button or an “x” onto which a user maymake a selection for removing the notification 260. Other presentationsof an affiliation notification 260, besides the illustrated contextualpop-up window, are included but not listed and illustrated as it isimpractical to list all prompt presentations which one of ordinary skillin the art at the time of the invention would infer.

FIG. 3 illustrates an implementation of a virtual space interfacewherein a user is presented with a listing of affiliations interested inrecruiting new members. For example, FIG. 3 illustrates animplementation of a virtual space interface 200 after a user hasselected to receive affiliation information by making a selection on anaffiliation notification 260. Virtual space interface 200 may display anaffiliation listing 300 including further affiliation selections 312,310, such as a “Clans” tab and a “Search Clans” tab. Virtual spaceinterface 200 may indicate a featured affiliation 320 by for example,listing the affiliation as a first listed affiliation 321 and/or bypresenting the featured affiliation in a different presentation that ismore prominent from the other presentations presented on space interface200. For example a featured affiliation 320 may be presented first andin bold typeface as illustrated by the example featured affiliation 320.A listing of other affiliations, such as clans or alliances or othergroupings may be presented in any order. For example, as stated above,the first listed affiliation 321 may be a way of presenting the featuredaffiliation 320. For example, the affiliation with a name of“SiliconSuns” is an example of a featured affiliation 320 that may begranted a first listing 321 in an affiliation listing 330. Otheraffiliations may be listed in order of highest to lowest trophies (e.g.SiliconSuns have 2724 trophies, Seattle Rains have 3903 trophies andChicagoSnowPlows have 3528 trophies) achieved or any other ratingfactor. For example, the affiliation with a name of “Seattle Rains” islisted as a second affiliation 332 and the affiliation with a name“ChicagoSnowPlows” is listed as a third affiliation 334. Other forms ofpresentation to have the featured affiliation 320 stand out on the spaceinterface 200 are included, but are too numerous to list.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of how an affiliation advertisingcomponent 118 may present an advertising opportunity including one ormore of space in views of the online game presented to the users on theclient computing platforms 104. For example, having an affiliationlisted as a first listed affiliation 321 and as a featured affiliation320 (e.g., presented in bold typeface) is an example of an advertisingopportunity 340. Other examples of a space in a view of the online gameincludes a banner ad presented on a web page associated with the onlinegame, an email, a pop up provided with views of the online gamepresented to the users on the client computing platforms, space in alogin modal, or presented in views of a game leaderboard. An advertisingopportunity may include affiliation advertising content 342. Forexample, affiliation advertising content 342 may include text, which amember of an affiliation submitted as content for their affiliation'sadvertising purposes, such as the example tag line “Re on the Run.”

FIG. 4 illustrates an implementation of a virtual space interfacewherein a user is presented with an affiliation advertising opportunitynotification. For example, FIG. 4 illustrates a virtual space interfacewherein a game component 108 has effectuated a presentation on a virtualspace interface 200 of an affiliation advertising notification 400. Anaffiliation advertising notification 400 may include affiliationadvertising notification content 402, such as the example text, “Doesyour clan need recruits? Interested in competing or bidding to advertiseyour clan?” or any other content that may be used to motivate or enticea user to join an affiliation, start an affiliation, or advertise orpromote an existing affiliation. Other examples of affiliationadvertising notification content 402 include other notifications ofenticement that may be used to inform or entice the user about anaffiliation advertising opportunity. The gaming component may effectuatepresentation on an affiliation advertising access selection 404 or anexit selection 406. Other presentations known to one having ordinaryskill in the art to provide affiliation advertising notification 400 oran affiliation advertising access selection 404 or an exit selection 406are included, but too numerous to list.

FIG. 5 illustrates an implementation of a virtual space interfacewherein a user is presented with an affiliation bid interface configuredto receive individual user pledge affiliation advertisingconsiderations. For example, affiliation advertising bid receptioncomponent 114 may be further configured to effectuate presentation, onan affiliation bid interface 500, of each of the individual user pledgedaffiliation advertising considerations along with information about eachrespective associated affiliation member. For example, game component108 may effectuate a presentation of an implementation of an affiliationbid interface 500, which receives bid input information from a user thatis a member of an affiliation. Affiliation bid interface 500 may includeone or more bid-interface selections. For example, a first bid-interfaceselection 502, such as a “My Clan” selection may cause the presentationof a member list 510 of all the members of a first affiliation to beeffectuated on a virtual space 200, as illustrated in FIG. 5. Forexample, when a user selects bid interface selection 502, a affiliationadvertising bid reception component 114 may list member advertising bidinformation including first member bid information 520. For examplefirst member bid information may include a first member name (e.g.StoneSturgill) and a first member bid selection 522.

A user may select first member bid selection 522 to input a first memberindividual user pledge affiliation advertising consideration amount. Forexample, FIG. 5 illustrates an affiliation bid interface 500 wherein auser has input a first member individual user pledge affiliationadvertising consideration amount of $150. Affiliation advertising bidreception component 114 may update its associated individual user pledgeaffiliation advertising consideration parameter to present the firstmember individual user pledge affiliation advertising considerationvalue 590 via the affiliation bid interface 500. Affiliation advertisingbid reception component 114 may be configured to receive each of themultiple pledged affiliation advertising considerations as hard currencyoffers. For example, a user may submit a consideration via credit cardtransaction or check or other hard currency transaction methods.

Affiliation bid interface 500 may also list the rest of the members ofan affiliation and their respective information including respectivepledge consideration values. For example, second member bid information530 may include second member name (e.g., KnockUOut) and considerationvalue, which may be set as a default amount of $0. Similarly, the third540, fourth 550, fifth 560, and so on (not shown) member bid informationmay include respective names (e.g., MadManDennis, SandraStar, andHaleyComet, etc.) and a presentation of respective consideration values.

FIG. 6 illustrates an implementation of a virtual space interfacewherein a user is presented with an affiliation bid interface configuredto present an aggregate amount of consideration from the multipleindividual user pledge affiliation advertising considerationssubmissions for an affiliation advertising opportunity. Affiliationadvertising bid reception component 114 may be configured to effectuatepresentation of each of the individual user pledged affiliationadvertising considerations along with information about each respectiveassociated affiliation member. For example, affiliation advertising bidreception component 114 may have received consideration input valuesfrom multiple members of an affiliation. Affiliation advertising bidreception component 114 may have effectuated presentations of an amountof consideration submitted by each member. For example, informationabout each respective associated affiliation member may include thatfirst member has a name KknockUOut and submitted a consideration valueof $50 (602), second member has a name MadmanDennis and submitted aconsideration value of $1 (604), third member has a name SandraStar andsubmitted a consideration value of $200 (606), and fourth member has aname HaleyComet and submitted a consideration value of $120 (608), etc.

Affiliation advertising bid reception component 114 may be configured toreceive each of the multiple individual user pledged affiliationadvertising considerations as hard currency offers to form an aggregateamount of consideration pledged by the multiple users in the firstaffiliation on behalf of the first affiliation representing, for thefirst affiliation, a sum of the total hard currencies offered by eachmember of the first affiliation. For example, affiliation advertisingbid reception component 114 may effectuate presentation of an aggregateamount of consideration from the multiple individual user pledgeaffiliation advertising considerations submissions 600 for anaffiliation advertising opportunity. The presentation of an aggregateamount of consideration from the multiple individual user pledgeaffiliation advertising considerations submissions 600 for anaffiliation advertising opportunity may have an associated identifier610 (e.g., “TOTAL BID”), which identifies the total amount in theaffiliation bid interface 500. In the example case illustrated in FIG.6, an example aggregate amount of consideration from the multipleindividual user pledge affiliation advertising considerationssubmissions 600 is $521.

Game component 108 may provide one or more or every affiliationparticipating in an online game an opportunity to provide a bid for anaffiliation advertising opportunity. Affiliation auction component 116may be configured to determine which of the received affiliationadvertising bids is the highest, and to award the affiliation whichplaced the highest affiliation advertising bid as being the winningalliance team. Affiliation auction component 116 may be configured todetermine which of the received affiliation advertising bids is not thehighest, and to refund each affiliation, which did not place the highestaffiliation advertising bid, a refund. Auction component 116 may beconfigured to provide the winning affiliation with the presentation oftheir affiliation advertising content on the alliance bid interface.

Members of the winning affiliation may design their own content.Affiliation advertising component 118 may be configured to effectuatepresentation of affiliation advertising content in advertisingopportunities for affiliations that submit winning affiliationadvertising bids such that in response to the first affiliationadvertising bid being determined to be the winning affiliationadvertising bid in the competitive auction for the first advertisingopportunity, affiliation advertising content associated with the firstaffiliation is presented in the first advertising opportunity.Affiliation advertising component 118 may be configured to provideadvertising content tools for generating the affiliation advertisingcontent. Affiliation advertising component 118 may be configured toreceive entry and/or selection of the affiliation advertising contentfrom users in the affiliations that have won the auctions. Affiliationadvertising content may include information about criteria for a desiredmember and a mission statement of the winning affiliation. Affiliationadvertising component 118 may be configured to verify a final version ofthe affiliation advertising content is in accordance with gameconstraints or standards. Affiliation advertising component 118 may beconfigured to verify a final version of the affiliation advertisingcontent is in accordance with game constraints or standards, and toproduce a notification when the game constraints or standards are notmet. Affiliation advertising component 118 may be configured to producea notification including a warning that violations will result in apenalty or disbanding of the affiliation team. Presentation of theaffiliation advertising content is associated with a presentation timewindow or a time duration associated with the first advertisingopportunity. For example, affiliation advertising content may be shownfor 24 hours the same day of the next week. For example, if the winningbid is determined tonight then the game will have the winningaffiliations' adverting content shown for 24 hours the following week toprovide the members of the affiliation time to create or adjust theiraffiliation advertising content.

FIG. 7 illustrates an implementation of a method of providing in-gameadvertising to assist in recruiting of alliance members in an onlinegame. The operations of method 700 presented below are intended to beillustrative. In some embodiments, method 700 may be accomplished withone or more additional operations not described, and/or without one ormore of the operations discussed. Additionally, the order in which theoperations of method 700 are illustrated in FIG. 7 and described belowis not intended to be limiting.

In some embodiments, method 700 may be implemented in one or moreprocessing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analog processor, adigital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuitdesigned to process information, a state machine, and/or othermechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices executing some or allof the operations of method 700 in response to instructions storedelectronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices configured throughhardware, firmware, and/or software to be specifically designed forexecution of one or more of the operations of method 700.

At an operation 702 an instance of an online game may be executed. Theinstance of the online game may facilitate participation of the user inthe online game via a client computing platform. Facilitatingparticipation in the online game may include executing actions in theinstance of the online game in response to receiving action requestsfrom the user. Execution of the actions may be delayed from reception ofcorresponding action requests by wait times associated with the actions.Operation 604 may be performed by a game component that is the same asor similar to game component 108, in accordance with one or moreimplementation.

At an operation 704 recordation of membership information of users inaffiliations may be executed. Operation 704 may be performed byaffiliation management component that is the same as or similar toaffiliation management component 112, in accordance with one or moreimplementation.

At an operation 706, reception of affiliation advertising bids frommultiple affiliations may be executed. Operation 706 may be performed byan affiliation advertising bid reception component that is the same asor similar to affiliation advertising bid reception component 114, inaccordance with one or more implementation.

At an operation 708, determination of a winning affiliation advertisingbid may be executed. Operation 708 may be performed by an auctioncomponent that is the same as or similar to auction component 116, inaccordance with one or more implementation.

At an operation 710, effectuation of presentation of content of awinning affiliation in an advertising opportunity may be executed.Operation 710 may be performed by an affiliation advertising componentthat is the same as or similar to affiliation advertising component 118,in accordance with one or more implementation.

Although the present technology has been described in detail for thepurpose of illustration based on what is currently considered to be themost practical and preferred implementations, it is to be understoodthat such detail is solely for that purpose and that the technology isnot limited to the disclosed implementations, but, on the contrary, isintended to cover modifications and equivalent arrangements that arewithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims. For example, it isto be understood that the present technology contemplates that, to theextent possible, one or more features of any implementation can becombined with one or more features of any other implementation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system configured to provide in-gameadvertising to assist in recruiting of affiliation members in an onlinegame, the system comprising: one or more physical computer processorsconfigured by machine-readable instructions to: execute an instance ofan online game, and to implement the instance of the online game tofacilitate participation of the user in the online game via clientcomputing platforms; record memberships of users in affiliations,wherein affiliations are relationships between groups of users that havefunctional implications in the online game, the affiliations including afirst affiliation to which a set of the users belong; receiveaffiliation advertising bids from the affiliations for advertisingopportunities, the affiliation advertising bids including a firstaffiliation advertising bid from the users in the first affiliation fora first advertising opportunity, the first affiliation advertising bidindicating an aggregate amount of consideration pledged by multipleusers in the first affiliation on behalf of the first affiliation in acompetitive auction with other affiliations for the first advertisingopportunity; determine winning affiliation advertising bids incompetitive auctions for advertising opportunities; and effectuatepresentation of affiliation advertising content in advertisingopportunities for affiliations that submit winning affiliationadvertising bids such that in response to the first affiliationadvertising bid being determined to be the winning affiliationadvertising bid in the competitive auction for the first advertisingopportunity, affiliation advertising content associated with the firstaffiliation is presented in the first advertising opportunity.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein the one or more physical computer processorsare configured such that the first advertising opportunity includes oneor more of space in views of the online game presented to the users onthe client computing platforms, a banner ad presented on a web pageassociated with the online game, an email, a pop up provided with viewsof the online game presented to the users on the client computingplatforms, space in a login modal, or presented in views of a gameleaderboard.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more physicalcomputer processors are further configured to receive entry and/orselection of the affiliation advertising content from users in theaffiliations that have won the auctions.
 4. The system of claim 1wherein the affiliation advertising content includes information aboutcriteria for a desired member and a mission statement of the winningaffiliation.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more physicalcomputer processors are further configured to receive each of themultiple pledged affiliation advertising considerations as hard currencyoffers.
 6. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more physicalcomputer processors are further configured to receive each of themultiple individual user pledged affiliation advertising considerationsas hard currency offers to form the aggregate amount of considerationpledged by the multiple users in the first affiliation on behalf of thefirst affiliation representing, for the first affiliation, a sum of thetotal hard currencies offered by each member of the first affiliation.7. The system of claim 6 wherein the one or more physical computerprocessors are further configured to effectuate presentation of each ofthe individual user pledged affiliation advertising considerations alongwith information about each respective associated affiliation member. 8.The system of claim 6 wherein the one or more physical computerprocessors are further configured to effectuate presentation, on anaffiliation bid interface, of each of the individual user pledgedaffiliation advertising considerations along with information about eachrespective associated affiliation member.
 9. The system of claim 1wherein the one or more physical computer processors are furtherconfigured to provide advertising content tools for generating theaffiliation advertising content.
 10. The system of claim 9 wherein theone or more physical computer processors are further configured toverify a final version of the affiliation advertising content is inaccordance with game constraints or standards.
 11. The system of claim 9wherein the one or more physical computer processors are furtherconfigured to verify a final version of the affiliation advertisingcontent is in accordance with game constraints or standards, and toproduce a notification when the game constraints or standards are notmet.
 12. The system of claim 10 wherein the one or more physicalcomputer processors are further configured to produce a notificationincluding a warning that violations will result in a penalty ordisbanding of the affiliation team.
 13. The system of claim 1 whereinthe presentation of the affiliation advertising content is associatedwith a presentation time window or a time duration associated with thefirst advertising opportunity.
 14. The system of claim 1 wherein the oneor more physical computer processors are further configured to determinewhich of the received affiliation advertising bids is the highest, andto award the affiliation which placed the highest affiliationadvertising bid as being the winning alliance team, and to provide thewinning affiliation with the presentation of their affiliationadvertising content on the alliance bid interface.
 15. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the one or more physical computer processors are furtherconfigured to determine which of the received affiliation advertisingbids is not the highest, and to refund each affiliation, which did notplace the highest affiliation advertising bid, a refund.
 16. Acomputer-implemented method for providing in-game advertising to assistin recruiting of affiliation members in an online game, the method beingimplemented in a computer system that includes one or more physicalprocessors and storage media storing machine-readable instructions, themethod comprising: executing an instance of an online game; implementingthe instance of the online game to facilitate participation of the userin the online game; providing a gaming interface to the user; recordingmemberships of users in affiliations, wherein affiliations arerelationships between groups of users that have functional implicationsin the online game, the affiliations including a first affiliation towhich a set of the users belong; receiving affiliation advertising bidsfrom the affiliations for advertising opportunities, the affiliationadvertising bids including a first affiliation advertising bid from theusers in the first affiliation for a first advertising opportunity, thefirst affiliation advertising bid indicating an aggregate amount ofconsideration pledged by multiple users in the first affiliation onbehalf of the first affiliation in a competitive auction with otheraffiliations for the first advertising opportunity; determining winningaffiliation advertising bids in competitive auctions for advertisingopportunities; and effectuating presentation of affiliation advertisingcontent in advertising opportunities for affiliations that submitwinning affiliation advertising bids such that in response to the firstaffiliation advertising bid being determined to be the winningaffiliation advertising bid in the competitive auction for the firstadvertising opportunity, affiliation advertising content associated withthe first affiliation is presented in the first advertising opportunity.17. The method of claim 16 wherein the first advertising opportunityincludes one or more of space in views of the online game presented tothe users on the client computing platforms, a banner ad presented on aweb page associated with the online game, an email, a pop up providedwith views of the online game presented to the users on the clientcomputing platforms, space in a login modal, or presented in views of agame leaderboard.
 18. The method of claim 16 further comprisingreceiving entry and/or selection of the affiliation advertising contentfrom users in the affiliations that have won the auctions.
 19. Themethod of claim 16 wherein the affiliation advertising content includesinformation about criteria for a desired member and a mission statementof the winning affiliation.
 20. The method of claim 16 furthercomprising receiving each of the multiple pledged affiliationadvertising considerations as hard currency offers.
 21. The method ofclaim 16 further comprising receiving each of the multiple individualuser pledged affiliation advertising considerations as hard currencyoffers to form the aggregate amount of consideration pledged by themultiple users in the first affiliation on behalf of the firstaffiliation representing, for the first affiliation, a sum of the totalhard currencies offered by each member of the first affiliation.
 22. Themethod of claim 21 further comprising effectuating presentation of eachof the individual user pledged affiliation advertising considerationsalong with information about each respective associated affiliationmember.
 23. The method of claim 21 further comprising effectuatingpresentation, on an affiliation bid interface, of each of the individualuser pledged affiliation advertising considerations along withinformation about each respective associated affiliation member.
 24. Themethod of claim 16 further comprising providing advertising contenttools for generating the affiliation advertising content.
 25. The methodof claim 24 further comprising verifying a final version of theaffiliation advertising content is in accordance with game constraintsor standards.
 26. The method of claim 24 further comprising verifying afinal version of the affiliation advertising content is in accordancewith game constraints or standards, and to produce a notification whenthe game constraints or standards are not met.
 27. The method of claim25 further comprising producing a notification including a warning thatviolations will result in a penalty or disbanding of the affiliationteam.
 28. The method of claim 16 wherein the presentation of theaffiliation advertising content is associated with a presentation timewindow or a time duration associated with the first advertisingopportunity.
 29. The method of claim 16 further comprising determiningwhich of the received affiliation advertising bids is the highest, andto award the affiliation which placed the highest affiliationadvertising bid as being the winning alliance team, and to provide thewinning affiliation with the presentation of their affiliationadvertising content on the alliance bid interface.
 30. The method ofclaim 16 further comprising determining which of the receivedaffiliation advertising bids is not the highest, and to refund eachaffiliation, which did not place the highest affiliation advertisingbid, a refund.